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Indonesia has been the envy of other countries as a shining light amid the gloom of the global economy. The economic growth of developed countries has been sluggish for years while Indonesia is celebrating rapid growth, a great reputation and the vision of becoming one of the world’s largest economies.

However, this rosy picture contains a paradox. Indonesia also shows some attributes of failed states: weak government, internal conflicts, human rights violations, corruption, the absence of social security and a poor education system.

Indonesia is ranked No. 64 out of 177 countries in the Failed States Index 2011 compiled annually by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine, slightly better than Azerbaijan but with a long way to go to reach Malaysia, which is ranked No. 111. There have been improvements since 2006 when Indonesia was ranked No. 32, slightly better than Egypt. However, the index still puts Indonesia in its “warning” zone.

A state consists of three main pillars: the government, the market and the society. This trinity is important to establish a balanced state.

In Indonesia, we have a weak government and a weak society but a strong market.

While a weak government has the legitimacy to govern, it is not backed by a strong regulatory environment or effective law enforcement. Basic needs such as education, shelter and social security are regulated by the market, not by the government or society, and only those who have money can access decent education or health care because the government fails to supply basic needs.

A weak government also is typically unable to defend human rights. Victims of persecution are often ignored for the sake of political stability.

This can be seen in Indonesia’s long history of human rights violations that are forgotten and unresolved. For example in 1945, during the infamous “Bersiap” period, pro-Dutch Indonesians were killed by revolutionary troops, yet this is not even mentioned in history books, in the same way that the Japanese and Dutch governments fail to highlight the legacy of their colonialism in school curricula.

In 1965, Indonesia witnessed the murder of as many as half a million people in the name of anti-communism following the failed coup against Sukarno. Chinese-Indonesians were labeled communists and forced to live in fear; they had to abandon their religion and adopt Indonesian-sounding names in a long act of cultural genocide.

May 1998 was one of the darkest periods for Chinese-Indonesians, who became victims of arson and rape in a spasm of violence that remains unexplained.

Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority nation in the world, but it is not an Islamic nation. However, a weak government is unable to protect its citizens from attack and, as a result, our reputation for tolerance on the international stage has been tarnished.

Religious minorities live in fear of hard-line groups acting as self-appointed morality police. The government lacks the courage to disband such groups, leaving civil society insecure.

It is particularly disturbing that those responsible for the deadly attack on the Ahmadiyah in February were only given a few months in jail. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, which supposedly guarantees religious freedom, has even called for disbanding Ahmadiyah in Indonesia.

We use religion in the same way that the Dutch used race to segregate people in the Dutch East Indies. The law that makes it mandatory to display one’s religion on the national ID card ensures that citizens are kept apart from one another.

The current situation is dangerous because any stability is merely an illusion. There is no real peace because conflict could occur anytime due to unresolved tensions. Hatred and prejudice still exist, hidden behind a screen of hypocrisy.

The government can boast that Indonesia has reached the status of a low-middle income country with $3,000 per capita GDP in 2010. We joined the Group of 20, we had the best-performing stock market and we now benefit from an excess of capital liquidity.

However impressive these statistics may be, they are meaningless when the government is weak and cannot supply the most basic human right to its citizens: freedom from fear.


Calvin Michel Sidjaja is a researcher from HD Asia Advisory. This article reflects his personal opinion.